The two teams have met three times so far this year.
Aston Villa and Manchester United will compete for a top-four berth on Sunday, according to Unai Emery, both in "different moments" than when they first faced off.
In November, Emery celebrated his first game in charge of Villa with a historic 3-1 home victory over Erik ten Hag's team in the Premier League.
Four days later, United won the Carabao Cup at Old Trafford as payback. The Red Devils went on to win the competition and hoist their first trophy in six years.
Nearly six months later, the two teams square off again, with Emery having turned Villa from relegation candidates to Champions League outsiders. Villa are now six points adrift of United in fourth place, who have two games remaining before their Midlands rivals.
"It will be a totally different encounter on Sunday from when we played at home when I arrived here," Emery said. "For us, it's a very nice challenge.
"Very different from the Carabao Cup game there, which we lost 4-2.
"For them and for us, the time is different right now. But it will also be quite challenging for us.
"I believe we can handle the game; we can be very demanding attempting to obtain our best performance for the full 90 minutes. And if we do it, there may be opportunities to score some points.
Villa has moved up to sixth place after a 10-game winning streak during which they have accrued 26 points.
With a 2-2 draw at Tottenham on Thursday, United's streak of three straight league victories came to an end as they surrendered a two-goal lead at the half.
They have quality players both individually and collectively, Emery added.
"Like Manchester United typically has to, they are in the top four this year.
They have had a very successful season despite being eliminated from the Europa League. They have won the Carabao Cup final and will play in the FA Cup final. They are, in my opinion, enjoying a fantastic season.
Emery thinks that competing in the Europa League or Europa Conference League next season is a more likely scenario than making the top four and earning a spot in the Champions League.
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